PHUKET: The Phuket branch of Airports of Thailand (AoT Phuket), which operates Phuket International Airport, has insisted that it is not ignoring or delaying compensation owed to local residents in the area over noise pollution.

A group of about 20 local residents gathered at the airport yesterday (Dec 2) to voice their dissatisfaction with the lack of progress by AoT Phuket in delivering compensation owed due to noise pollution from aircraft flying overhead.


Leading the gathering were local resident Songwit Winyupradit and Boonpaisan Boonsop, Village Headman (Phu Yai Baan) of Moo 1 Mai Khao.

The local residents at the airport yesterday represented Moo 1, Moo 4 and Moo 6 in Tambon Mai Khao, and Moo 6 Baan Laem Sai in Tambon Thepkrasattri.


The group delivered a formal request addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited, calling for the company to expedite payment owed to the villagers.

The letter pointed out that the compensation was to be paid out by 2022.


Manat Sotharat, Deputy Director of Operations and Maintenance at Phuket Airport, received the formal letter.


Local resident Mr Songwit said that AoT must comply with the environmental impact report submitted by AoT to the Office of Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning among the supporting documents for approval for the construction and development of Phuket Airport.

“In the report, it was clearly stated that various operations must be completed before the airport can be opened in the development area, but it is now the end of 2021, and compensation still has yet to be paid to those affected by noise. Less than 50% of people affected have received compensation,” he said.


“In the past, the villagers took the view that the relevant agencies were trying to prolong the time taken. The implementation of the project [to resolve the issue] began without a specific timeline. As a result, the affected people have not yet been compensated for the many impacts that have occurred,” Mr Songwit said.

“Therefore, I would like the relevant agencies to expedite the issue of compensation to be completed as soon as possible, because while the villagers suffered a lot from the noise. The affected villagers are those who live around the airport and lived there before the [larger] airport was built. Therefore, I would like to call on them to expedite the problem as soon as possible,” he said.


Mr Songwit pointed out that AoT is going through the process of making offers to buy land from local residents affected. AoT has signed purchase agreements for 17 households, while three households are waiting for confirmation that AoT will agree to buy their land.


“Yet there are 30 more households still waiting to hear from the consulting company hired to conduct the land value appraisals,” he said.


“In addition, there are at least 100 households affected [by the noise] but the owners do not have any land documents. They are still waiting for an answer and clarity about compensation,” he said.


Phuket airport under fire for delaying noise pollution compensation payouts